Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a beloved fairytale known for its frolicking dwarfs, sweet naive heroine, and wicked queen obsessed with beauty. It’s a child-like story with tones of nostalgia and whimsey that, like the cottage core aesthetic, give us the illusion of a simpler time. Alongside it’s light hearted magic and happily ever after, however, is a Gothic tale of spooky castles, haunted forests, forbidden magic, and death. Even the 1937 Disney version of the old fairytale that most are familiar with feature these dark elements. Fairytales have always contained elements similar to Gothic literature and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an excellent example.
Gothic literature is a genre popularized in the seventeenth century describing a type of novel, short story or poem that features dark atmospheric elements such as a spooky castle or forest, a mysterious past that unravels throughout the course of the story, moody “byronic” heroes, symbolically angelic heroines, supernatural elements, and hints of madness. The genre relies heavily on the setting and weather to set the tone and emotion of the narrative and contains themes of horror and suspense woven into them in a slow, unsettling pace that makes the reader’s skin crawl. They are, in fact, my very favorite kind of book. Describing these kinds of stories as “Gothic“ began with Horace Wadpole when he subtitled his book The Castle of Otranto “A Gothic Story”, but such tales have existed since the days of oral storytelling, including many fairytales.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was originally an oral story told by word of mouth. The most well known written version is the Grimms brothers, added to their collection of folktales and fairytales in 1812. We often think of the Grimms brothers as the darker versions of fairytales, but while their versions are considerably darker than their Disney counterparts, the Grimms brothers themselves heavily censored the stories they collected. Both Disney and the Grimm brothers adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to fit the sensibilities and values of the time and yet the darker Gothic horror elements remain. Something in the very nature of the tale demands an acknowledgement of the darker side of reality.
First there is the setting. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs contains not only a Gothic castle full of mystery and dark forbidden magic, but also a spooky forest that mirrors the feeling of fear and horror Snow White feels as she runs from her home in fear of being murdered. It is a scene that would be at home in any horror film. Similarly the spooky castle mirrors -perhaps more literally — the dreary and twisted heart of the wicked queen who so craves Snow White’s innocence and beauty.
Snow White herself is a textbook example of a Gothic heroine. She is naive and sweet and serves almost more as a symbol of goodness in juxtaposition to the dark realities of the world than a relatable flesh and blood character like Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland in her spoof of a Gothic novel. Still, she is endearing in her commitment to being kind in a world that is often cruel to her. She is trusting when she has every right to be suspicious and that is both what puts her at risk and what ultimately saves her. In the Disney version animals flock to her because of her innate goodness and in both the Disney and Grimms version it is trust and kindness to the dwarves that leads to her being put in a glass coffin so that the prince can find her.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is completely riddled with supernatural elements and while in many Gothic stories such as Jane Eyre the suspected supernatural turns out to have a logical explanation, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the magic is quite real. The wicked queen’s mirror speaks, telling her the truth she doesn’t want to hear. She uses magic to harm Snow White and magic brings Snow White back from the dead. The evil queen’s magic is poisonous and represents temptation in the form of forbidden fruit in the Disney version and not only forbidden fruit but also a comb and sash -vehicles by which a woman tries to be beautiful — in the Grimms version. While the Disney version features a questionably unconsented kiss and the Grimms brothers a decision by the prince to keep a corpse on display at his castle (his servants drop the coffin on the way back to his castle and the piece of apple falls out of her throat, bringing her back to life) in both versions it is the prince who unintentionally saves Snow White’s life.
The prince is not necessarily a moody byronic hero and there are no instances of a mysterious past in Snow White, but the evil queen is questionably mad with her desire for beauty. However, it is the elements of suspense and horror that truly make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Gothic. In the Grimms version the story opens with Snow White’s real mother pricking her finger and observing her blood drip onto the black ebony snow covered windowsill. She likes the black, red and white color palette and wishes for a daughter with lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow, and hair as black as ebony. This image of blood dripping over the snow sets the tone for the entire story. Soon the daughter’s step mother (or actual mother in older versions of the tale) wants to cut out her heart and is only stopped when she is fooled by the huntsman who gives her the heart of a deer instead. Once she realizes she has been fooled she tries three more times to murder Snow White and eventually succeeds. The dwarfs then put Snow White’s corpse in a glass coffin so they can admire it. These elements are toned down only a little in the Disney version, omitting the first scene with Snow White’s mother and reducing the murder attempts to one instead of three after the evil queen discovers that the huntsman has deceived her. The impending threat of the evil queen creates an undercurrent of suspense and horror throughout the entire story, even while Snow White is dancing with the dwarves or sleeping safely in their cottage.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a complicated story with many themes ranging from an Oedipal struggle between the younger and older generations, the danger of being beautiful and also the demonization of women who try to be, along with the duality of a “good” women vs a “bad” women and what they have in common. The Grimms brothers used the tale to perpetuate their racist agenda of German nationalism while the Disney version promotes the virtues of female domesticity. Beneath these themes however, and perhaps predating them in its original oral form, is a thrilling Gothic tale of horror as Snow White faces and ultimately triumphs over danger and unimaginable horrors.
Darkness in fairytales is important because it acknowledges the darkness of the real world and helps us imagine how to improve it. Snow White is so riddled with dark Gothic elements that even two attempts to sanitize the tale wasn’t enough to stamp them out. The dark undercurrent woven throughout the story is what makes the whimsey and sweetness feel so precious and the whimsey and frolicking is what makes the darkness so horrifying because there is so much to lose. This contrast between the two completely different tones may be part of what has made the story endure for so long as it has been told and retold from generation to generation. The complex tapestry of light and dark mirror the moments of horror mingled with moments of magic and joy that comprise every day life.
I’m hoping the 2025 live action version of Snow White smooths out some of the more problematic and outdated elements of the story. If you love Gothic fairytales consider checking out my own adaptation of Snow White (with Little Red Riding Hood mixed in and make it lesbian) Snow Roses by Taryn Tyler.